The Coachella Valley was hit with two storms in August and September, which impacted the date crop that was being harvested at the time, resulting in lower supplies as the storage crop moves through its year-long marketing season.

One of the heavy demand periods for both organic and conventional dates is Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which started earlier this week. Many people who observe the holy month of fasting eat dates at the end of each day’s fast. And because dates are often in the news around this time due to Ramadan consumption, demand for the fruit increases with the extra publicity.

DJ Ryan, Sales and Operations Manager, SunDate

“This is a heavy-demand holiday,” said DJ Ryan, who handles sales for SunDate in Coachella, California. “But it is one of those holidays where sales are mostly front-loaded.”

Most of the sales occur ahead of time as those observing Ramadan tend to stock their cupboards with shelf-stable dates and other traditional foods. Ryan said SunDate was able to meet all of its commitments and will continue to have organic and conventional dates until next season’s harvest begins in late August.

Ryan said there has been a firming of the market price and a tightening of organic supplies, but the packers specifically manage their crops to last the entire season. “When there is a short crop, you have to be more selective, but I do not want to give the impression that we are going to run out of organic dates. We are not.”

This year’s supply-demand situation is unusual, he said, as dates tend to be a very consistent crop with a very consistent price. “Aggressive pricing” is not in play this year, Ryan said, as it is a good, solid year, and there is no need to try to entice retailers to promote dates. At the same time, Ryan said there continue to be in-store date promotions on an ongoing basis.

“When there is a short crop, you have to be more selective, but I do not want to give the impression that we are going to run out of organic dates. We are not.” - DJ Ryan

Hadley Date Garden Vice President Sean Dougherty noted that organic dates are becoming a larger percentage of the crop each year as demand continues to grow, and it’s not a big leap to go from conventional date farming to organic date production. He said growers use next to no inputs on their crops, whether they are organic or conventional.

Sean Dougherty, Vice President, Hadley Date Garden

While Dougherty was reluctant to argue that organic production had a significant advantage over conventional production this year, he did say that the process of harvesting, storing, and packing organic dates does have one advantage. Almost all organic dates go directly to the freezer from harvest and are packed from that suspended state throughout the year. Many conventional dates, on the other hand, are stored in barrels in cold storage until they are ready to be packed.

When the rains hit in August and September, many pounds of dates were outrightlost, and other fruit ended up in cold storage where some damage has been discovered many months later. The freezer treatment on the organic dates has produced a better yield per pound stored.

Dougherty agreed that while volume is down this year, there does appear to be adequate supplies to get packers through the summer and into next season’s crop. The key seems to be to take care of your customers and be very selective about new business.

Sean Dougherty agreed that while volume is down this year, there does appear to be adequate supplies to get packers through the summer and into next season’s crop.

He believes there will be increased exports of dates from other points of origin to help fill any gap that might emerge as the season wears on.

Though it is too early to know what next season will bring after two straight years in which weather played an adverse role, Dougherty said optimism abounds. “That's the beauty of being a farmer,” he said. “Hope springs eternal. We are waiting for the trees to push flowers so we can try to hang a crop. And then we will hope for good weather to take us through the harvest.”